Suits: Self Defense (5x14)

This episode was amazing. Oh my God. So intense. I don't even have anything else to say in the intro to this review. Just... wow.

Cons:

I don't honestly think I have any cons. There was just one thing that I didn't quite understand... most of this episode is a battle between Mike and Harvey over the question of who should represent Mike in his case. Mike wants to represent himself, Harvey thinks it's a bad idea. Harvey ends up representing Mike, but then at the very end he tells Mike that they need to switch things up. Mike should be representing himself so that the jury will see him being a lawyer. Dramatically and narratively this works wonderfully. Mike will be representing himself in the final blows of the case, with Harvey's full blessing and support. But logically? I don't really understand where this move is coming from. Why does Harvey think that this play will work, and why was he so reluctant to consider it before, if suddenly he's willing to change his mind? The logic doesn't add up. I'm willing to let it go mostly because it does make for a more interesting climax for the story in the next two weeks. But I thought I should mention it here.

Pros:

This episode was just flat-out intense. Every moment of it kept building and building to the conclusion, and I felt totally invested in every single second. They got so many people to come in and be a part of this dramatic ramp up to the end of the season. Harold, Trevor, Sheila, Jimmy, Benjamin... several minor characters came in to make a big splash.

The basic plot is as I stated above. Mike and Harvey argue over who should represent Mike. They have a mock trial, and decide whoever wins will get to represent Mike. In the end, Anita Gibbs moves the trial up, and there's no time to decide. Rachel is the one who finally steps in and says that the person representing Mike is going to have to be brutal, and that will cause the jury to hate them. The jury can hate Harvey, but they can't have the jury hating Mike. Gibbs puts Trevor on the stand, but Harvey twists his testimony by proving that Trevor has always been jealous of Mike. Then, Gibbs puts Donna on the stand. When she asks her point blank if Mike went to Harvard Law, Donna crumbles and pleads the fifth, which is pretty much as good as a confession in the instinctual minds of the jury, even if legally they can't infer that.

Mike also gets Jimmy, an old friend, to come forward and lie, saying that Mike did go to Harvard law. Anita Gibbs manages to land a punch with him, but still, he holds to the truth and testifies that Mike went to law school. Mike celebrates, but Harvey says that small victories are not enough. Mike has to represent himself if they want to have any chance of winning.

There were a lot of balls up in the air during this episode, and each one was thrilling and exciting. First of all, we're starting to see that even people who know Mike is a fraud are willing to back him up. Harold comes forward and tells Mike that he'll testify, even though he knows Mike is lying. Jimmy comes through for him in the end, ostensibly to protect his aunt, because if Mike is convicted, everything he did as a fraudulent lawyer will be undone, and Jimmy's aunt will lose her settlement. But it seems that Jimmy also has respect for Mike, despite his lies. Even Benjamin, the IT guy, is willing to help doctor a Harvard file to include Mike's name on a list of first year class rankings. He says it's because Mike never treated him like a lowlife and lorded his Harvard education over him. It was nice to see the complexities of the issue here - a lot of people were willing to overlook Mike taking a "shortcut," and judge him based on his actions over the years.

Then there's Jessica, who had two of the most bad ass moments in the whole show ever in this episode. See, it looks like Louis might be a weak link in Mike's case, because Gibbs is determined to catch him tampering with a witness. Even though Louis didn't technically break the law by sending Sheila out of the country, it was still clearly crossing a line, and Gibbs knows this. Gibbs confronts Louis, but Jessica then goes to Gibbs and gets a restraining order, forbidding Gibbs from seeing Louis without his attorney present. That was awesome! Later, when Gibbs shows up at Pearson Specter Litt to talk to them, Jessica declares that if she is put on the stand, she'll say that she hired Mike, that Mike went to law school, and that she stands by her decisions regarding him. That was intense - and it turns out, Jessica wasn't bluffing! I know that Jessica is doing this because it's their best chance of winning, but it's also such a strong testimony to her loyalty. Not to Mike, necessarily, but to Louis, who told her she had to go all in, and especially to Harvey, who everybody knows is not going to turn on Mike.

And that brings us to Donna. Everybody had assumed that Gibbs was going to call Jessica to the stand first, and she would testify that Mike was a Harvard-educated lawyer. Calling Donna to the stand first was a big shocker, and when it came right down to it, Donna just couldn't bring herself to commit perjury. She doesn't turn on Mike, but she does plead the fifth. Donna was ashamed of it afterwards, but you have to admit... it's a hard thing, to ask somebody to risk jail for you. I liked that Donna ended up being a weak link, because her position is totally understandable.

And then we go back to Louis - Gibbs confronts him and says that she believes he was in on Mike's lie for a while now. She can pinpoint the exact moment, too: When he came back to the firm as name partner. Gibbs hands Louis a card and asks him to turn on Mike and Harvey to save himself. Louis seems to be considering the idea. I almost put this part under the "cons" section, because if Louis really does turn on them, I'm going to call BS. What I hope they're doing is something more interesting - Louis can hopefully use Gibbs' defiance of the restraining order to leverage something against her and help Mike's case. I just hope Louis' loyalty holds out. It makes for a much better story.

Rachel gets MVP of the week. She decided not to give her opinion at first on whether or not Mike should represent himself. She just told him to do whatever he needed to do. But after the mock trial, when Harvey ripped Rachel to shreds on the stand, Rachel finally speaks her mind. She's the one to convince Mike that Harvey needs to represent him. Also, when Donna comes over to apologize to Mike for hurting his case, Rachel greets her and invites her in, holding no grudge against her for slipping up the way she did. Rachel is really rattled by everything going on around her, but at the end of the day she remains loyal to the people she cares about.

We should also talk about Harvey and Mike, and the mock trial that led up to the real trial at the end of the episode. They both pull dirty tricks and manipulations to win, and Mike accuses Harvey of crossing lines just because he doesn't want Mike to beat him. Mike is particularly infuriated when Harvey humiliates Rachel on the stand by bringing up the fact that she cheated on Mike with Logan. That cut so deep, because Mike confided in Harvey about that in a moment of friendship, and Harvey used it against him and hurt Rachel deeply. But Donna points out to Rachel that Harvey has this ability to turn off his emotions and stop seeing people as human. It's part of what makes him such a great lawyer. And it's true - Harvey can shut down his emotions when it comes to making hard decisions. And here's the rub: Harvey is doing all of this to save Mike.

If you think about it, yeah, the whole firm is at stake. But Harvey trusts Mike not to turn on him and Jessica, which means the only person who is in immediate danger of prison is Mike himself. Harvey crosses every line he can think of to convince Mike to let him represent him, not because he's determined to be the best, but because he's scared that Mike will lose if he represents himself. The tension here is fantastic, because you have Harvey, who is scared for Mike and for himself and Jessica and Louis and Donna, and is willing to do anything to help save his friends. And then you have Mike, who cares deeply for Harvey, going a little bit off the rails and accusing him of wanting to represent Mike just because he likes to win. Mike isn't in a place to feel grateful for Harvey's loyalty. He's not in a place to thank Jessica and Louis for not shoving him out in the cold and turning their backs on him. He should be, but he's too scared right now. This whole thing is not bringing out the best side in Mike, and that makes for such interesting television. Who wouldn't show strain under this kind of pressure?

So, as we move forward... will the judge allow Mike to represent himself? I'm guessing yes. Will Louis crack under the pressure and betray them all? I'm guessing no. But I don't know for sure, and that's what makes all of this so exciting!

9.5/10